Sandman in the War on Terror
by Brooding Pariah
Summary: Follow Sandman as he undertakes a variety of assignments with Team Metal during the War on Terror. No longer just a two-shot. As always, please Rate and Review
1. Agitation

_SEPTEMBER, 2004_

_ON THE U.S.S MEDUSA_

_OFF THE COAST OF SOMALIA_

"_SANDMAN"_

_BRAVO TEAM, ALPHA SQUADRON_

_COMBAT APPLICATIONS GROUP*_

_O315 HOURS_

They had been watching Reaper drone imagery for five days, every eye on the boat as it heaved with the violent tide. Autumn, with its storms and its angry, lashing sea, posed a hazard for any commercial ship making its way across the Somali coast, but for a ship crammed with twenty prisoners guarded by experienced pirates and stranded in the water with faulty controls, the consequences would be nothing short of apocalyptic.

Sergeant Sandman, the team leader on this mission, looked at the black and white imagery displayed on the computer screen, and noted something down on a piece of paper. He straightened up, and let out a curse. The thirty eight year old had been an assault troop commander for two years and had served four tours in the Unit. He had served in Iraq and Afghanistan, and had deployed with more than a dozen foreign special operations units. The vagueness of the orders passed down by SOCOM had frustrated him. He had flown in five men from Fort Bragg hoping to go in and rescue the hostages as quick as he could, but he had not yet been given the green light. His men had brought all kinds of breeching equipment and a variety of weapons from the armoury. They had brought in scuba kits, carabiners, and other top of the line equipment, anticipating they might have some use in the course of the mission. They were dug in and waiting, but the men who held their leashes were not ready to cut them loose.

He told Grinch to relieve him on what the boys had christened the "bird watch", and went out to the chow hall. The noise of cutlery on plates and the voices of sailors were a glad change from the eerie silence in the "bird watch room". He walked over to where Truck sat, talking with Rasta, Nightwing and Ice. He was about to take a seat when a sailor ran into him and fell back on the floor. Sandman's boys broke up in chuckles. He helped the boy to his feet, and the red faced lad with eyes downcast, squeaked, "Skipper requests your presence in his cabin. Sandman followed the boy through the tables, and out the chow hall, towards the skipper's cabin. The boy left him outside the door and Sandman entered, more curious than annoyed.

The bald skipper, Captain Gregory, looked up at him and nodded for him to have a seat. Sandman sat down. The captain looked at him over a sheaf of papers, and spoke, "The Batphone rang from SOCOM. Green Light"

Sandman let out a relieved breath, and nodded. He left the room and went back to the chow hall, and told his boys to accompany him back to the "birdwatch room".

By 0500, they were ready. They had packed the laptop in a day bag. They had dressed up in desert tan uniforms. They had slung on their Hk416 rifles and had loaded their Glock pistols. They had strapped on bricks of C4 and breeching hammers. They had imprinted that detailed picture of the ship and its inner portion on their minds. They jogged towards the Sea Hawk helicopters that awaited them on the carrier, as the Sun peaked out from its cover of storm clouds.

*: The CAG is the new and official name for what is more widely known as Delta Force

**AUTHOR'S NOTE: **this chapter details what happened before Sandman and his men take down the ship. The story is a two-shot. The ship is fictional as is its captain. The situation is based on some real events. The main characters of this story belong to Infinity Ward.


	2. Green Light

_OFF THE SOMALI COAST_

_ENROUTE TO THE "PROUDWING"_

_SEPTEMBER 2004_

"_SANDMAN"_

_BRAVO TEAM, ALPHA SQUADRON_

_COMBAT APPLICATIONS GROUP  
_

Two _Sea-Hawk _helicopters, painted in a sleek black colour and improvised with muffled rotors, skimmed the surface of the warm water. The choppers buffeted under the strong wind currents, as they flew towards the stranded liner, it's yellow and white colour standing out against the blue colour of the angry autumn waves. The lead chopper (Mako 1) carried Bravo Team. Sandman and his boys sat at the sides of the helicopter, with their legs hanging out. Mako 2 had a payload of Coast Guard members who had been attached to the U.S.S Medusa. They were to watch over the prisoners that the D-boys would take.

Sandman flicked off the safety of his rifle to semi auto, as the pilot shouted, "One minute!" The others straightened up and did a final check on their equipment. They passed the fantail, and the pilots put the chopper at a hover, eight feet above the deck. Sandman jumped and landed hard on the deck. His men followed him. They went around the side, towards the indoor gaming room. Two bare-chested men sat there, dozing. They heard the footsteps of the soldiers and reached for their rifles. Sandman raised his rifle and performed a double tap, and the men stumbled back, as blood flew from their heads.

"Clear!", Priest shouted. They exited and made for the stairwell. They flipped on their NODs and reached a black door. Grinch kicked it, hard. The door flew open and the soldiers fanned out. Before the four pirates inside the room could register what had happened, they had been neutralized with M855 Predator rounds.

The men went out of the crew quarters and doubled their pace to get to the engine rooms, where the hostages had been kept. They were guarded night and day by six pirates. Grinch planted a charge and the door and pulled the det cord. The door exploded and the men entered. Sandman entered, and raised his Glock 19. The pirate in front of him moved to execute a hostage, but Sandman hit his sternum. The man recoiled, and hit the floor, Sandman turned and pulled the trigger, and another pirate collapsed, blood flowing from his gullet. The third pirate in front of him raised his knife, but he ate Sandman's bullet.

The targets had been neutralized. Sandman walked out to the deck and signalled the Coast Guard members, who had been hovering over the ship, to come down and retrieve the hostages.

He pressed his radio and spoke through his mouthpiece, "Baseplate, this is Bravo Six, booger eaters KIA. Request Exfil for ourselves and Precious Cargo, over"

His radio warbled," Bravo Six, this is Baseplate. Have dispatched Chinooks to your position. Standby for extract. Baseplate out."


	3. Knock, Knock

_PAKTIA PROVINCE, AFGHANISTAN_

_JULY, 2007_

_**SANDMAN**_

_TEAM METAL_

_COMBAT APPLICATIONS GROUP_

The warm and oddly heavy air of Afghanistan's monsoon season hung upon the atmosphere like a smothering mantle. The wind (when it blew) was pregnant with the weight of the rain it carried. The effect was contagious, as the Afghans spent their time lolling about outside their houses, sleeping beneath the cloudy sky. It was quiet that night; too quiet.

The silence was abruptly broken by the rotors of a black MH-6 Little Bird; a tiny speck that could barely be seen against the dull backdrop of the sky, or heard by the Afghans.

And that was just how Sandman wanted it to be like._ We go in, grab Razor, and get out of there in time for hot soup and crackers,_ was the phrase he had used to end the briefing. Beside him sat the FNG, Frost. A long time Green Beret, the sergeant was no stranger to indoor gunfights, but CQB at the Delta level was a different experience altogether.

_At least he is confident, _Sandman thought. Frost had a knack for waking up early and rushing to the gym to pump iron. Not even Truck was as dedicated as he was. He had been an eager and willing participant when the team rehearsed for various contingencies. If their primary battle plan were to be compromised. He made sure to take the Team's Hk416 rifles and make sure they were zeroed at the range, while kitting them up with all the bells and whistles. Of course, physical fitness is a crucial factor upon which the success of the mission depends, and as a common Delta phrase was "Surprise, Speed and Violence of Action", he would take the initiative and would lead the team into seven mile runs around Bagram Airbase. The man was a masochist.

"Three minutes", the pilot's voice warbled. Sandamn relayed the ETA to the boys, and wiped dust of his Surefire suppressor. They were wearing the best NVGs money could buy. They all dressed alike, in the newer Multicam fatigues. Their black body armour weighed them down, because in addition to their weapon magazines, they all carried a boatload of breaching equipment, along with their array of hand grenades, flashbangs, and radios.

They lowered their NVGs as the pilot cried out "One minute"

The chopper landed on the road of an abandoned neighbourhood, and the team spilled out. The helo lifted up, and the men began a forced jog towards the target building.

"Alright", Sandman whispered," Heads on a swivel, and watch your spacing"

They increased the jog to a sprint and reached the large iron door of thee bungalow. Frost and Grinch held security as Truck disabled the electricity supply. A well placed shot at the telephone lines router overhead, disabled comms. The target had nowhere to run, and no means to cry out his distress.

Grinch and Frost took position as Truck placed a frame charge on the gate and pulled the detonation cord. After three seconds: _BOOM!_

The smell of cordite and smoke hung thick in the air.

"Go, Go, Go!", Sandman ordered, and the men sprang into the fray. They were greeted by a fusillade of AK rounds from the balcony.

"Frost", Sandman yelled.

"On it", frost replied, and he fired from his mounted M320 grenade launcher, which wiped out all opposition from the balcony.

"Grinch and Truck, go to the left side of the house and look for Razor. Breach and Clear, go!", Sandman ordered," Frost, we take the right side."

Thye ran to a make shift garage under an alcove and reached a wooden door. Without pausing, Frost kicked it off its hinges. "Going loud", he piped.

The door swung away to reveal a cluster of confused men. As Sandman entered the breach, he went into a trance like state. It was a feeling of Zen consciousness experienced by all hardened commandos. The targets were zero, and meaningless. They took what seemed like minutes to retrieve their weapons. Sandman moved fluidly and quickly.

He looked down his Trijicon RMR sight, and popped the head of a combatant. He shifted his attention to a man clicking the safety off his AK, and burst his carotid artery with a single, well placed round.

What had seemed like hours had actually been five seconds. Five seconds to eliminate all hostiles; five seconds to dominate the room; five seconds of free-flow, auto pilot mode.

Sandman scanned the faces of the dead enemies. None of them was Razor. Hi sradio warbled with Grinch's urgent voice, "Razor ran up the roof."

"Shit", Frost muttered.

They wasted no time. They ran up the stairs to the roof, and reached it to find Truck and Grinch frozen in place. They trained their gunsights on a man standing near the edge of the roof, holding a pistol, in his hand.

Razor looked astonishingly out of place. He looked like an Asian version of Trotsky, and had the bookish spectacles of a Harvard academic. Only his callused hands confirmed that he really was a kidnapper and a murderer, in league with dark terrorists who preached murder and hatred.

The mission objective include the word "kill" along with the standard "or capture", but any commando worth his salt knows that an enemy is of more intel value when he is alive.

Sandman took a step forward and spoke, "Put the gun down. Now."

The man looked at him and drawled in thick English, "So you can torture me at your will? I think not!"

"It doesn't have to be this way"

"Better to burn out than to fade away, American", Razor replied, and pulled the trigger. His head exploded in a flash of pink.

Sandman turned away and ordered Truck and Frost to look for intel. To Grinch he said, "Gather all the weapons in this house and stick them with a C4 charge. Set a three minute delay. We'll regroup downstairs. They went about their business.

Sandman switched his radio frequency and spoke,"Bagram, Metal-01"

"Go Metal", the radio squawked.

"Razor EKIA. Six hostiles eliminated. Have found a boatload of intel"

"Copy that. Exfil to LZ Alpha, and await the Chinook. ETA: ten minutes. Out"

Sandman regrouped with the team downstairs, and they stealthily exfiltrated to the designated pickup point. As they reached the high ground, the C4 they had set, went off.

They heard the familiar sounds of the Chinook's rotors. As it landed, its ramp opened and they rushed inside.

_Same shit, different day_ Sandman thought.


End file.
